BACON ENDS CARBONARA
from HPP Chef Johnny Cass
This recipe comes directly from our new head chef Johnny Cass -
If you have come by the shop in the last few weeks you may have noticed that the food has gotten WAY better! Well, it’s all thanks to this guy.
We are very fortunate to have him on board at the Home Place, and hope you can come by and try some of his food soon.
Johnny has been kind enough to share one of his favorite recipes with our Monthly Box holders - Bacon Ends Carbonara. It’s a great way to use bacon ends, and you can never have too much carbonara. It’s a win-win!
Come by and see Johnny soon, and if he happens to have fresh Hand Pies in the case, do yourself a favor and grab a few for the road. They are amazing!
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of dried pasta (We prefer Bucatini)
1 pack of Home Place Bacon Ends
1 cup of chopped parsley
1 cup of chopped green onions
2 tablespoons of lemon zest
4 egg yolks
1 stick of butter
1 cup of grated parmesan
2 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic
A few sprigs of thyme
1 tablespoons of olive oil
METHOD:
Boil pasta in plenty of heavily salted water. Once it’s cooked, set the pasta aside and reserve 1 cup of pasta water for later use.
In a small bowl, mix together the 4 egg yolks and cup of parmesan.
Heat a pan over medium heat and add one tablespoon of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, fry the Bacon Ends until golden brown and crispy. Move the bacon ends over to a paper towel and save the bacon fat for later use.
In a clean pan, melt the butter. Keep cooking the butter in the pan until it starts to brown and becomes very foamy. You will build a lot of flavor with browned and foamy butter so don’t skip this step! After you’ve got the browned butter, add chopped garlic and thyme and sauté for 30 seconds or so. Take care not to burn the garlic!
Next, add your cooked pasta, pasta water, bacon and bacon fat back into the pan. Toss and cook for about a minute or so.
Next, add green onions, parsley, and lemon zest to the pan. Keep cooking and tossing until the pasta is well coated.
Take your pan off the heat and add the egg yolk and parmesan cheese mixture over the pasta.
Toss for another minute or until everything is well coated. Important not to cook the egg yolks at this point! If you do this over the heat you will probably end up with bits of scrambled egg in your pasta!